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100 years old and still open for business

1:28 p.m. EDT September 14, 2013

In 1913, at the height of the railroad era, Henry Severin Jr. had the savvy idea of putting a hotel next to Indianapolis’ Union Station. The hotel, now called the Omni Severin, still stands at 40 W. Jackson Place. Its one of seven metro-area businesses that are celebrating a century in operation.
(Photo: Joe Vitti)

But the generations of owners and other entrepreneurs behind these businesses and a handful of others in Central Indiana obviously know what it takes to last far beyond their beginnings.

Taylor’s Bakery started as a small grocery, but the popularity of a delicious white cake can shift your direction. Eli Marburger made a sale during his lunch break at Block’s Department Store, and fired for returning to work late, he set out on his own with heightened determination. A young apprentice named Walker Maguire got busy providing services in a business that never really dies: the funeral industry.

The key to long-term success: the ability to change with the times.

Here is a look at seven businesses in Central Indiana that are celebrating a century in operation.

Omni Severin Hotel

In 1913, at the height of the railroad era, putting a hotel next to Indianapolis’ Union Station was a savvy business move.

The 400-room Hotel Severin catered to the train-traveling public, and it thrived as long as trains did. In the 1960s, as train traffic dwindled, the hotel briefly closed and entered a rocky ownership period that lasted 20 years. Businessman Warren Atkinson reopened the hotel after a renovation and put his name on it, but he later defaulted on loans. Subsequent owners included two out-of-state realty trusts and a local partnership led by Revel Cos.

The hotel limped along until 1988, when locally based developer Mansur Group bought the building and launched a $40 million renovation that added two 13-story wings.

The attraction for Mansur: the reopening of Union Station into a festival marketplace and the revival of Downtown with a thriving convention center and a new domed stadium for the Indianapolis Colts.

Mansur reopened the hotel in 1989 as the Omni Severin. Ten years later Mansur sold the 424-room property to the Texas-based Omni Hotel chain.

Stroll through the doors of the four-diamond hotel, and the link to the past is still strong. The immense Austrian crystal chandelier and the marble staircase in the Severin Ballroom are originals, along with the ornate railings above the lobby. Removed by former owners, they were recovered by the Omni renovation team in a barn 30 miles away.

The hotel’s location can’t be beat, said Stan Jacobs, director of sales and marketing.

“We see the future as long and prosperous here. We’re in the right spot. I can’t imagine our location would do other than improve.”

Henry Severin saw to that.

— Jeff Swiatek

Taylor’s Bakery

At its start as a small grocery at 38th and Illinois streets, baked goods were but a sideline at Taylor’s Bakery.

The biscuits, breads and cookies took a back seat to early 1900s essentials such as kerosene, lard and flypaper.

It wasn’t until the 1930s that Taylor’s much-beloved and much-consumed white cake emerged and Taylor’s became a bakery foremost on the shopping lists of its customers.

The white cake is still served up daily. (In 1954, Taylor’s supplied the cake at President Dwight Eisenhower’s 64th birthday bash at the Marion County Fairgrounds.) And there are a host of other sweet specialties, such as doughnut holes, Cinnfuls (a yeast treat with a cinnamon filling) and, of course, the popular Orange Fluff iced angel food cake.

Remarkably, the bakery’s ownership is still in the family. Brothers Matt and Drew Allen run the two-store Indianapolis bakery that was founded by their great-grandfather D.O. Taylor.

The 38th Street store is long gone, replaced by more suburban locations at 62nd Street and Allisonville Road and 8395 E. 116th St. in Fishers.

Under the brothers, who took over last year from their father John (who had run the place since 1968), Taylor’s has diversified into a complementary food group. Ice cream was added to the menu this year.

Taylor’s churns the ice cream from scratch with its own ice cream machine, using a recipe borrowed in part from a great-grandmother. A bevy of flavors are offered.

Ice cream is a natural complement to cake, said Drew Allen, and should help Taylor’s business as it heads into its second century. Just don’t expect the business to bring back lard or flypaper.

— Jeff Swiatek

EF Marburger Fine Flooring

Eli Marburger worked for the flooring division of Block’s Department Store on East Washington Street in 1913. He was having lunch one day at a corner store when the shop’s manager asked him to provide an estimate for new carpet. Marburger ended up making a sale, but he was fired for returning from his break late. The experience lit a fire under him, and he opened a store called Guarantee Rug and Carpet Co. the same year.

The Fishers flooring business was eventually renamed EF Marburger and is now run by Eli’s grandson, Ron Marburger. The family has completed projects such as the veneer murals for the original L.S. Aryes Tea Room in the 1920s, the world’s largest grease-proof industrial floor system for Western Electric in 1950, and high-density carpets for Indiana’s school districts in the late ’60s.

While sales have remained stable since the company’s beginning, Ron Marburger said within the past 30 years thousands more varieties of flooring products have become available, such as exotic woods like bamboo, durable laminates and the plushest of carpeting.

“You used to have just oak or maple floor. We could show everything we had in a place the size of a bedroom.” he said. “We’ve got the largest showroom in Indiana, but we still show less than half of what’s available out there.”

Ron Marburger said he expects the industry’s global market to continue to grow. China and Mexico are producing and shipping new varieties of flooring all the time, he said.

“There will be other products that will be easier to maintain, more durable,” he said. “I can’t imagine that, but I’m sure it’s coming.”

— Laura Newberry

Flinn & Maguire Funeral Home

Flinn & Henderson Funeral Home began in Franklin in 1913, but the legacy of its current namesake began with a young apprentice named Walker Maguire in 1928.

Maguire was a student at Franklin College, and after graduation he began working for the funeral home full time. By 1952 Maguire became an official partner, and the name of the funeral home changed to Flinn & Maguire.

Maguire’s son, Jerry, and grandson, Austin, now run the business. Austin Maguire said the nature of the industry has changed vastly through the years. The funeral process has become condensed. Burials, showings and funerals all occur within a single day, whereas when the parlor first opened the proceedings spanned nearly half a week.

Cremations have become much more popular, resulting in less burials and casket sales. And with the advent of the digital age, the business has invested in video equipment to show film tributes of those who have passed.

“It’s not just people walking around here mute like it used to be,” Austin Maguire said. “It’s more of a celebration now. But we work harder for less than we did in the older days.”

Austin Maguire expects to stay in business for years to come, even though competition from other funeral homes continues to grow.

“People are always going to pass away,” he said.

— Laura Newberry

Visiting Nurse Service Inc.

In 1913, Abbie Hunt Bryce and her husband, Dr. Peter F. Bryce, noticed a need for affordable in-home health care, and the Public Health Nursing Association was born. The organization’s original goal was to provide in-home health care services to terminally ill patients or those who needed extra care at home following a hospital stay.

The organization, now at 4701 N. Keystone Ave., changed its name in 1947 to Visiting Nurse Association of Indianapolis. In 1984, it became known as the Visiting Nurse Service.

As community needs grew, VNS launched its subsidiary, At Your Service Healthcare, in 2000. At Your Service Healthcare has a non-medical menu of services that include meal preparation, laundry, companion sitting, and crisis nursery services, a program that helps parents in stressful situations take care of their children and also provides child care so that parents can attend appointments.

The Abbie Hunt Bryce home opened in 2004 to provide housing needs for terminally ill patients with limited financial means.

In 2011, VNS merged with St. Francis in an effort to continue to expand its offerings. VNS services include immunizations, hospice care and mental health.

“Franciscan VNS has several plans for the next 100 years, including increasing our at-home services and community programs,” Hughet said. “With the roll out of ... components of Obamacare, there will be many new opportunities for home care programs.”

— Jill Phillips

Maco Press Inc.

The business started in the back of a floral shop in Downtown Indianapolis in the early 1910s.

Albert Brandt used a printing press to make fliers advertising his flower arrangements and goldfish, said George Seidensticker, the former owner of Maco Press Inc. whose son now owns the company. Area merchants took notice of the finely crafted handbills and asked Brandt to print some for their businesses, as well. Soon he found that he could turn his hobby into a lucrative trade and in 1913 opened a shop in Carmel. Within a year he moved the business to Indianapolis.

The biggest boon for Maco in its early years was the house organ, Seidensticker said, a booklet of short stories and amusing anecdotes that Brandt wrote and reproduced. “Leisure,” as it was called, was distributed and sold across the country until the late 1950s.

The business has since moved back to its roots in Carmel and primarily prints commercial materials and advertisements. The industry has seen many shifts in operations through the years, from the traditional letterpress all the way to text and graphics created with digital film.

Many print shops went out of business when the last recession hit, Seidensticker said. He attributes the company’s ongoing success to the support of the small businesses and entrepreneurs that make up the bulk of Maco’s customer base.

“I think there will always be a need for some printed goods,” he said. “But it will never again reach the heights it did in the 1900s.”

— Laura Newberry

Clark Appliance

Revere Jacobs opened Quick Appliance Service in 1913 on Massachusetts Avenue in Downtown Indianapolis. At the time, Mass Ave. was considered one of the busiest streets in the city.

Robert and Shirley Clark took ownership in 1954 after Jacobs’ death. Around 1967, the company was renamed Eureka Sales & Service and was later known as Maytag Sales & Service.

In 1986, Bob and Cindy Clark bought the company from Bob’s parents, Robert and Shirley Clark, becoming the third generation to own the business. Shirley continues to work within the business. Their son B.J. continues the family legacy as the manager of La Cuisine & Clark Appliance in Coral Gables, Fla.

Bob Clark expanded the company’s offerings in 2004 with the opening of the Clark Appliance Showcase store located on U.S. 31 South. The showroom quickly garnered the attention of industry executives and received General Electric’s Innovation in Showroom Design award. Clark Appliance opened a second showcase in Castleton in 2006, employing a full-time chef.

Clark Appliance plans to continue its family-owned legacy and build upon its offerings.

“We are extremely proud of the hard work it took to reach the 100-year mark,” Bob Clark said in a news release. “We have to constantly change. We keep adding more and more services to increase the value of the Clark experience.”